When two people are this, they have agreed to marry each other.

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Sep 13, 2018 01:00

When two people are this, they have agreed to marry each other.

This sentence is taken from a book. The word "this" confuses me- since this is my first time me seeing the word used in such sentence. This means that in my global knowledge, I know that "this" must be followed, in writing, with a noun! So, what does "this" aims in this sentence?

The usage you are describing of "this" is its use as a demonstrative adjective."This" can also be used as a pronoun.When I point to a dog and say "This is a beagle," the word "this" is a pronoun referring to the dog I am pointing to.The use of "this" in the sentence you quoted is awkward, but it refers to the word "engaged," which was probably mentioned in the previous sentence. I would rewrite the sentence in one of the following ways:When two people are "engaged," they have agreed to marry each other.When two people are related to each other in this way [referring to a previous mention of "engaged" or "engagement"], they have agreed to marry each other."Being engaged" means agreeing to marry each other.